Hi A few years ago I reviewed some of the literature related to blocked instruction (taking fewer courses over shorter periods of time) and there were indeed suggestions that people might fare better on immediate tests of knowledge but not so on delayed (e.g., performance in following dependent course). I was motivated by the fact that some departments/programs here have started offering extremely compressed courses (e.g., 3 credit hours or half course credit in one week), which is simply not pedagogically sound in my view nor equivalent to a regular 3 credit course. They would often call them Institutes or some such.
I would not be surprised if frequent testing in theory could lead to better long-term retention but it would have been better had the authors tested that idea. For one thing, retesting the knowledge at a later point in time would force the students to study the material again (distributed practice). Whether a "surprise" test would show benefits might be a different question. Take care Jim Jim Clark Professor & Chair of Psychology 204-786-9757 4L41A -----Original Message----- From: Paul Brandon [mailto:pkbra...@hickorytech.net] Sent: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:01 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] PLOS ONE: Daily Online Testing in Large Classes: Boosting College Performance while Reducing Achievement Gaps But are you testing what you taught several weeks ago, or what students crammed the night before from the text and their lecture notes. On Nov 22, 2013, at 10:58 AM, Christopher Green wrote: > I'm thinking: recent effect. If you only test what you taught today, but not > what you taught six or twelve weeks ago, of course you'll get better > "results." > > Chris > ----- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 > Canada > > chri...@yorku.ca > >> On Nov 22, 2013, at 6:58 AM, Paul C Bernhardt <pcbernha...@frostburg.edu> >> wrote: >> >> I have an idea. Every class meeting is nothing but exam and assessment from >> start to finish. More must be better, right? >> >> More seriously: do we know the optimum ratio of testing to learning >> objectives covered? At what point are there diminishing returns? >> >> Paul >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >>> On Nov 21, 2013, at 9:12 PM, "Christopher Green" <chri...@yorku.ca> wrote: >>> >>> As though you didn't have enough people telling you how to teach already. >>> Still, interesting finding. >>> >>> http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0079774?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+plosone%2FPLoSONE+%28PLOS+ONE+Alerts%3A+New+Articles%29 >>> >>> Chris Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=30412 or send a blank email to leave-30412-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=30424 or send a blank email to leave-30424-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
